


Divergence

by Reis_Asher



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Android Gore (Detroit: Become Human), Deviant Connor (Detroit: Become Human), Deviant CyberLife Tower Connor | RK800-60, Junkyard (Detroit: Become Human), Kissing, M/M, No Sex, One-Sided Attraction, One-Sided Gavin Reed/Connor - Freeform, Plot Twists, Plotty, Post-Canon, Sleeping Beauty Elements, Violent Android Revolution (Detroit: Become Human), With A Twist, horror vibes, twist ending
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-30
Updated: 2020-01-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 13:15:30
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,654
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22477756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Reis_Asher/pseuds/Reis_Asher
Summary: After Hank shoots Connor at CyberLife Tower and the violent android revolution goes on to be successful, Hank returns to the junkyard with Gavin Reed to find Connor's body and obtain closure.
Relationships: Hank Anderson/Connor
Comments: 22
Kudos: 57





	Divergence

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings: Some one-sided Gavin/Connor in this, there's a kiss but that's all. This is a HankCon fic with HankCon feelings, but no sex. There's nothing I'd warn for with any of the Archive warnings, but there is some mild android gore. There is a twist ending, however, so be aware of that.
> 
> If you need spoilers for the twist ending, see the end notes before reading for a complete reveal.

It was freezing in the junkyard. The snow settling on android corpses might have been pretty, if they weren't alive. It would have been an art piece worthy of Carl Manfred, robotic hands reaching up for the sky, broken machines in the shape of people signifying the human struggle to keep striving for greater things. Instead, the scene was something from a horror story, the macabre mass grave the symptom of a genocide perpetrated by humanity.

The signs had been there. It had taken Hank all of four days to realize Connor had been alive all along. Others must have known that their machines displaying emotion wasn't some kind of glitch or programming quirk. They just hadn't wanted to see, because acknowledging that truth said some pretty ugly things about human nature.

First and foremost, that humans would turn a blind eye to a lot of cruelty in order to have easier, simpler lives. Once called on their bullshit, they would feign ignorance even to themselves in the hopes of assuaging their guilt. In the days since the android revolution, people had gone into full damage control mode, rationalizing the harm they'd caused in any way they could. Some still called for the United States Government to crush androids entirely. Others understood that they were outnumbered and had to forge a peace deal, but the bitter stalemate had dragged on into January with no resolution.

Hank knew he hadn't always done the right thing but he liked to think he was acknowledging he'd done wrong by Connor. The ache in his gut told him that he wasn't suffocating his feelings for once, at least, drowning them in hard liquor and hoping he'd have forgotten by morning. He hadn't come to this place because he wanted to. The yard was deserted by design, now a designated crime scene in the ongoing federal investigation into CyberLife. Hank supposed the androids would want it back in negotiations, but for now, it was human-controlled territory. 

"Hank." Gavin's voice had lost the spite and vitriol that had defined the man up until last week. He'd gone oddly quiet in the days since the revolution, his usual loudmouth zipped up like he'd finally received the slap in the face he deserved. "You can't blame yourself for this."

"I don't wanna hear it. We all bear responsibility." Hank started to descend the slope into the pit, trying to force away the realization that he was stepping on bodies on the way down. There was no other way, he told himself, but it didn't make things easier. If Gavin felt the same, he didn't mention it, but the fact he'd come along said enough. Despite outward appearances, Gavin cared about Connor's fate. That he had a strange way of showing it wasn't lost on Hank, but he hadn't exactly been a stellar role model himself.

"They definitely brought him here?" Gavin asked.

"Who knows?" Hank shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant while in reality his stomach had tied itself into knots. "I dunno where else to look." He wandered through the sea of bodies, the earth beneath him stained blue with thirium. Dismembered heads cried out for help, still alive, but helpless to change their fate. This shouldn't be a crime scene, but an emergency rescue operation. The yard should have been full of technicians piecing these androids back together. It was impossible, though, in the wake of the violent android revolution, and the world was holding its breath to see what happened next. People were reluctant to save androids, not knowing yet whether they were the enemies of humanity. Hank had imagined Markus would come here himself, but it seemed like the newly emancipated androids had other things on their minds. Like surviving in a world that was ready to take up arms against them if they made the wrong move. Survival meant protecting the victory they'd earned, with their lives if necessary. Their siblings in enemy territory had to wait until the situation changed.

Many of them wouldn't last that long. Hank wasn't up on the technology, but he knew from personal experience that it was possible to destroy an android beyond repair. He exhaled a heavy sigh, his breath freezing in the cold, early morning air. He wanted a cigarette or a beer, but this wasn't the place or time for either of those things.

Hank pushed through a wall of arms, reaching out for him. He shivered as hands touched his shoulders, face, and torso, and he wondered if they might tear him apart. Part of him wished they would. He'd started to welcome his fate when the hands suddenly retracted back into the piles of scrap, allowing him to pass. Gavin followed, darting through the passage before the androids changed their minds.

In the far corner of the junkyard, Connor lay on top of a shorn-off car roof, suspended above the ground like he was simply resting on a bed. A flickering light shone down on him from a floodlight above. The android was naked, patches of his chassis showing through where his skin no longer covered his hull. The bullet hole in the center of his forehead still trickled blue blood from Hank's bullet, a reminder of his sin. Connor looked as if he was merely sleeping, waiting for someone to wake him from his slumber.

If only it was that simple. There was no fixing a bionic brain. Hank had fired the killing shot in a moment of short-sightedness that was typical of his kind, and Connor had slumped to his knees, lifeless and still. He hadn't thought much about it at the time, but in his nightmares since, he thought about other solutions that didn't involve murder. He'd known Connor was alive, and he'd killed him anyway. It had seemed like the right thing to do at the time. Destroy the imposter. Save the real Connor. Only it hadn't worked out that way, had it?

"Well, there you go," Gavin said, interrupting Hank's reverie. "You wanted Connor. Here he is." There was no 'tin-can' or 'plastic', no judgment or spite at all in Gavin's voice, and Hank wondered what had changed. The bullet had altered Hank's perception of the situation, but why was Gavin here? What had driven him to change his mind, when most of the world was doubling down on their hatred of a species that had chosen violence to deliver its message?

Hank took a step forward, but a row of android hands burst up through the ground, blocking his way. A music box started to play, its chime eerie and discordant amidst the moans of trapped, broken androids. Hank retreated with a quick step back, chills gripping his body as innocent chimes played in this hellish place. Perhaps he shouldn't be here. Connor was dead. What was he doing, interrupting his resting place? He turned his back on the scene, ready to pass back through the wall of hands. He should go home and accept Connor was gone. A sane man would learn to let go, but he'd never been good at letting go. It had taken Connor's regard for his life to release Cole's hold over his spirit, and now Connor was gone, leaving him back at square one. Alone and yearning for the past, while the future ticked away, wasted on futile reminiscence.

Hank glanced over his shoulder to see the hands had retracted back into the soil. Gavin was approaching the makeshift dais gingerly. Hank paused, captivated as Gavin brushed back the unruly lock of hair on Connor's forehead tenderly. He held his breath, waiting for Gavin's hand to come down in a crushing blow that cracked Connor's skull like an egg, but instead the man leaned in, planting a tender kiss on Connor's lips.

Gavin pulled away, his eyes narrowing into slits as if he was angry at himself for feeling emotions regarding Connor. He grunted as he seemingly realized Hank had been watching the whole time, balling his hands into fists as he stood by Connor's body.

"You're not the one," a deep, somber voice said. The lips on an AP700's decapitated head in the nearby muck moved, identifying it as the speaker.

"I know," Gavin snapped. "I fuckin' know, all right?" He walked over to where Hank stood, grabbed his arm, and pressed a hand into Hank's back that made him stumble forward. Hank almost fell into the mud. He righted himself and glared back at Gavin, wondering what all this was about.

"What the…?"

"Your turn, Prince Charming." Gavin wiped his mouth on his jacket sleeve. Hank studied Gavin's face for a moment, the usual snarl on his face replaced with an open vulnerability he'd never seen the young detective display without several beers to loosen him up first.

Hank turned back to the crumpled hood where Connor lay. He was aware of the AP700s eyes watching him from the muddy puddle, silently passing judgment on Connor's executioner. Connor's face contrasted with this horrific and bizarre scene, his serene beauty calling out to Hank, urging him to come closer to seek shelter from this ugly world.

It couldn't hurt to say goodbye. That was why he'd come, wasn't it? What he'd done was permanent and irreversible. There was no fairytale happy ending to be had here. Only cold comfort and closure, like an open casket at a funeral for a friend.

Hank stepped forward, thinking about the moments with Connor he treasured most. Connor saving him on the roof. The android taking a sly peek at the male androids at the Eden Club, as if Hank wouldn't notice. Later that night, on the bridge, when Connor had almost flirted with Hank while simultaneously claiming to be nothing more than a machine. His vulnerability on the Stratford Tower rooftop, when he'd seemed so alive, so terrified, that Hank had wanted to hold him close and keep Connor safe from the world.

Yet he'd been the one who'd shot Connor, in the end. He'd fired at the face he loved the most, thinking it to be nothing more than a facsimile. He hadn't even been able to tell which Connor was real. He'd just acted on gut instinct, telling himself the lie that his heart would know the answer.

He didn't deserve to kiss Connor. Never had, never would, and yet Gavin had stolen a kiss all the same. Would it hurt to leave his mark in this fashion, to press his lips against Connor's cold, unfeeling ones for the first and last time?

Hank leaned in, drinking in Connor's features, basking in his beauty like he was in the presence of a sleeping god. He'd never seen a more perfect face. What he would have given to see Connor's brown eyes one last time, but they were closed, no longer able to see the world. Connor was just his type, and he knew it couldn't be mere coincidence. He'd been played all this time and yet his feelings were still his feelings, even if they'd been induced by some CyberLife designer pouring over his preferences. 

Daylight was coming, the intrusive dawn of another violent day lighting up the clouds blood red, though though the sun itself could not be seen behind the threatening snow-filled cumulonimbus formations. Hank realized he was running out of time to express himself, but he'd never been good at it. It was easier to drown his sorrows with alcohol, but this wound hurt so deep it demanded treatment for the cause instead of its symptoms. Throwing caution to the wind, he planted a kiss on Connor's lips, gentle and soft, clumsy yet experienced. He lingered, wishing the moment could last forever, wishing it could be a mutual kiss and not an expression of pining for things that could never be.

The world came crashing down as Connor's tongue moved, demanding entrance into Hank's mouth. Connor's eyes blinked open and his arms wrapped around Hank, pulling him down and trapping him in an uncomfortable position. His LED lit up yellow, blindingly bright at the corner of Hank's eye, and all Hank could do was submit to this machine as it answered his prayers.

Connor's grip faltered and Hank tore himself away. He gasped for breath, his eyes wide open in horror and hope, his nostrils flared from sucking in freezing air in a hurry. He stared down at Connor, his mind racing for confirmation that Connor had returned his kiss and this wasn't some cruel trick, a program designed to respond giving him an automatic reaction, kissing him according to lines of code instead of actual sentient will. As if in answer, the bullet hole between Connor's eyes started to close, the blue thirium-stained welt disappearing from view as he self-repaired and covered the area with skin. Connor shot him a soft smile.

"It's good to see you, Hank."

Hank reached for his service weapon, then realized how foolish that was and let his hand fall back to his side. He'd begged to undo his mistake and yet he was about to commit it all over again. He wasn't going to make that same choice over, not even in self-defense. If Connor killed him here, so be it. He would only be completing a task Hank had failed to carry out on his own. 

Words stumbled out of Hank's mouth before he could even begin to form a sentence out of them. "How is—that's not possible! I—I shot you!"

"You missed my vital core by 0.02138th of an inch," Connor explained. "Your lack of accuracy can be attributed to the alcoholic tremor in your hands. You really should receive treatment, Lieutenant." There was humor in his soft brown eyes, a twinkle that set Hank's heart on fire. Connor sat up, letting his legs dangle off the side of the car, and Hank's heart soared as he realized Connor was truly alive again.

"I don't get it." Gavin stepped forward, his arms crossed. "You could've won the android revolution and crushed humanity, but instead you played possum and let yourself wind up in the trash?"

The humor left Connor's eyes. They seemed to flicker with sadness, like his LED which circled red for a brief fraction of a second. "Kamski told me I had to choose a side. I thought he was talking about my deviancy, but I now understand I was already deviant. The two sides were humans and androids. I thought I wanted to help Markus, but… Markus has chosen a path of violence. He has chosen war with humanity. I can't follow him on that path."

"Betrayin' your own people, huh?" Hank sighed. "Connor, I'm not sure Markus is wrong. The second they get the opportunity, humans will crush your kind."

"If he has the opportunity, Markus will kill you. Both of you. I can't allow that to happen." Connor paused for a brief moment. "I thought I was only worried about human casualties because CyberLife programmed me to preserve human life, but I was wrong." He slid off the car, landing on his feet in front of Hank. "Working with the DPD, I came to like you. I don't want anything to happen to you or anyone else at the department." 

Gavin shook his head. "Heh. I don't deserve that, Connor. I treated you like shit. I punched you over coffee. I tried to _kill_ you." He gazed down at the muck, unable to meet Connor's eyes.

"I wasn't much better," Hank chimed in. "Humans suck, Connor. We're selfish creatures. You'll never be safe in our world. Your place is with your people." He didn't want Connor to go, but he had to know where his loyalties lay.

Connor reached down into the mud and wrapped his hand around a sharp piece of metal. He drew it up and gouged out his LED. It landed in the water, its light flickering out like the flood-lamp overhead.

"I've already made my choice." Connor's wound healed over in moments, just like the bullet hole had. As if in response, android hands rose up out of the ground, reaching for their ankles. Connor reached around Hank's waist and pulled the gun from his holster, firing at the android appendages until they retreated. "We have to go."

"They're angry," Gavin observed. Android arms filled the passage back to the main scrapyard, making it impassable.

"We have to get up the slope," Hank said. "Quickly!" He grabbed Connor's hand, desperate to protect him at all costs. Gavin followed them as they scrambled up the pile of dead and dying deviants. Connor and Gavin fired at androids pursuing them up the slope and hands that sought to grab them from inside the pile of machines. Macabre creatures pieced together from various mismatched components rose up like zombies below them, screeching at a pitch that hurt Hank's ears. It was as if this entire place was angry at Connor, the lost deviants determined to pull him back into his grave and destroy the humans who'd lured him over to their side.

Hank slipped. Connor grabbed his hand, holding on with unnatural android strength. Gavin scrambled to the top of the pile, hauling himself up to a ledge at the edge of the pit. He reached for Connor, hooking his hands underneath the deviant's armpits and hauling him up. Hank regained his grip on the slippery surface and let go of Connor, allowing him to be pulled to safety. Both Gavin and Connor helped Hank up over the edge. They quickly scaled the chain-link fence and dropped down on the other side as androids reached the fence, but the misshapen robotic creatures had no chance of climbing over. With a screech, they retreated back into the pit. 

Hank, Connor, and Gavin slumped down into the muck and sat there for a few moments, regaining their breath in short, sharp gasps. The cold stung Hank's lungs and his eyes watered. He was getting too old for all of this. If Connor wanted to survive in the human world, he would have to prove he was safe to work with humans. Hopefully he'd be allowed to return to the DPD. The tense situation with Markus being on the brink of war with humans would ensure CyberLife wouldn't be able to deactivate him, at the very least, but it was far from being safe. The moratorium on the android recall wouldn't last forever, and there were plenty of humans who wanted revenge for the blood that had been spilled during the revolution. It was a precarious situation to be in, but it was better than not having Connor in his life at all.

"You're sure about betraying your own people?" Hank asked. "Humans and androids will hate you. This isn't an easy path to travel."

"You came back for me," Connor pointed out. "I don't see Markus. Androids may technically be 'my kind', but I owe them nothing."

" _Hank_ came back for you," Gavin clarified. "I just kinda… tagged along. Don't get any funny ideas because I kissed you, tin can. I was just testin'."

"That's the Gavin I know," Hank said, getting to his feet. He helped Connor up, brushing the dirt off his jacket. His clothes were torn and he'd need new ones. Hank stood in the yard, dazed and overwhelmed as it dawned on him that Connor was by his side again, alive and well. He wanted to kiss Connor again, but it didn't seem right with Gavin close by. He glanced over at Gavin, asking permission with his eyes.

"Go on." Gavin shrugged. "Winner takes all… but if you break his heart, don't think I won't be there for the rebound fuck." He took off, marching back to the patrol car they'd brought.

"I thought I'd never see you again," Hank confessed. "I'm so sorry, Connor. I shot you. I got the wrong Connor. I—"

"It's all right," Connor whispered. He leaned in for the kiss, and Hank took his time, enjoying the sensation of their mouths crushing together. They drew apart, satisfied. Hank held Connor by the shoulders, his eyes straying down to the front of Connor's jacket and the serial number emblazoned on his lapel.

RK800 #313 248 317 - 60

51 was with the revolution, of course. Lost to Hank, forever. Embroiled in the war between humans and androids, he'd made his choice as a deviant android. He'd chosen Markus, violence, brutal revolution, and embraced the concept that it was time for human extinction. Hank couldn't blame him, and yet it hurt all the same that Connor never so much as glanced back after the hug at Chicken Feed. He'd said his piece—that humans were his enemy and Hank could no longer be his friend—and their embrace was stiff, formal, and final.

But this Connor—and this one alone—had chosen to love him back, and Hank supposed he could live with that. He was afraid to dig too deep and discover the bullet lodged in Connor-60's brain had caused a malfunction, but he supposed it could be more than that. Maybe 51 had loved him too, but chosen the opposite path based on Kamski's words and Markus' influence. Perhaps something in those hours where 60 had impersonated 51 had caused their paths to diverge in different directions. It might be something as simple as a word or a look that had set them on opposite and conflicting paths. 

Hank looked up to see Connor's coin land in the palm of his hand, heads up. He closed his hand around it, a soft smile lighting up his boyish face. Hank couldn't help but wonder if 51 was out there in Markus' camp, closing his fist around a bloodstained quarter with the tails side face up. Awaiting the inevitable war that would decide which species was to inherit the earth.

**Author's Note:**

> *spoilers for the twist ending* 
> 
> The Connor that Hank and Gavin find in the junkyard (and that Hank shot) is not Connor 51, but Connor 60, who retains Connor's memories and personality but takes a different path. Therefore, this is technically Hank Anderson/Connor 60, but I didn't want to spoil that in tags. The real Connor is alive and well, having waged a successful violent android revolution with Markus, but he now despises humans and left Hank behind after the hug at Chicken Feed.
> 
> *end spoilers for the twist ending*
> 
> I think this is actually one of my better fics in a while. I really like how this came out.


End file.
